NRT sells On Collaborative by Coldwell Banker to division CEO

Reology’s NRT business sold its development marketing and sales firm, On Collaborative by Coldwell Banker, to the division CEO David Wolf, The Real Deal has learned.

Wolf joined NRT in 2015 to develop and launch On Collaborative. It began operating two years later, with offices in Chicago and Los Angeles. The Chicago-based division handled new development sales for a handful of projects across the country, in addition to offering planning and advisory services for residential developments.

The sale of the company closed on Jan. 17, Wolf said. He declined to comment on terms of the acquisition.

Christine Lutz, who joined On Collaborative in 2017, will continue to lead sales and marketing for the new company’s residential projects. It’s re-launching with three projects: 1400 Monroe, a 42-unit condo project in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood, The DeMarcay condo development in downtown Sarasota, Florida, and The Standard, a luxury condo project in New Orleans.

In addition to Coldwell Banker, Reology’s brands include Sotheby’s International Realty and the Corcoran Group. Last year, Realogy shut several offices and combined teams, in addition to selling off businesses as part of its cost-cutting efforts. Reology’s third quarter 2019 earnings revealed it lost $69 million, compared with 2018’s net income of $104 million over the same period, which it attributed to the write-down in value of its NRT business.

Coldwell Banker will continue to be the broker of record for On Collaborative. Sales agents will work for the new company, but hang their real estate licenses with Coldwell Banker. Under the new structure, the firm will be able to white label sales and marketing services, according to a release. Wolf said he’d also like to bring third-party vendor services in-house.

In South Florida, On Collaborative previously handled sales of Yoo Residences at Metropica, the first condo tower at the master-planned 65-acre community in Sunrise, which is in west Broward County. Wolf said the developer, Joseph Kavana, and On Collaborative mutually agreed to part ways ahead of NRT’s sale of the company.

On Collaborative plans to expand in Chicago, throughout the Midwest and in markets such as Texas and Florida, Wolf said. The new company will also offer marketing and leasing for new rental projects.

“We were very focused on for-sale product only,” Wolf said. “Obviously, we know that there’s been a huge trend of multifamily development. We really want to be a part of that. [For] a lot of our larger projects with mixed-use design, it really made sense for us to be able to offer that to our clients.”

Wolf previously worked for Related Midwest, as president of Related Realty and Related Midwest Sales. Prior to On Collaborative, Lutz was director of brokerage at Kinzie Brokerage LLC and senior vice president of Garrison Partners Consulting.